The times have certainly changed for bands that once reigned supreme on the Billboard charts at the tail end of the last decade.

Fastball's "The Way" and "Out of My Head" in 1998 and Nine Days' "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" in 2000 were monster hits and radio staples of any respectable mainstream rock outfit.

The past nine years have seen a petering out of the late '90s explosion of pop-rock that seduced the teenage population. Miles Zuniga, Fastball's vocalist and guitarist, said the market for that kind of music has since collapsed.

"The music industry is like the wicked witch at the end of The Wizard of Oz when she begins to melt," Zuniga said.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks the sales of music and music video products in the U.S., Fastball's breakout sophomore album, All the Pain Money Can Buy sold 1.25 million copies in 1998. Its 2000 follow-up The Harsh Light of Day sold a meager 85,000. Zuniga said he doesn't decry the country's current economic downturn because he was prepared for a recession -- it had already happened to him.

The Austin-based band, gearing up to release its first album in five years, will be playing at the HUB Alumni Hall tonight with opening act Nine Days. The University Park Allocation Committee and Penn State Marketing Association (PSMA) are sponsoring the show.

The Long Island-based Nine Days is set to perform an acoustic set because only two members -- singer-guitarist John Hampson and back-up vocalist Brian Desveaux -- could rearrange their full-time job schedules and commit to playing the show.

Amid upheaval in the recording industry in the late '90s, Fastball and Nine Days were casualties of a shift in consumer taste and technology advents that welcomed downloading and said farewell to CDs.

"We were one of the last eras where people were buying CDs," Hampson said. "There was a steady decline of CD buying and it affected a lot of artists caught in the middle of it."

Nine Days was dropped from Sony in 2003 and Hampson transformed from a rock star to an 11th and 12th grade English teacher. The band members went their separate ways since the label split, but still perform about 25 shows a year, Hampson said. Desveaux moved to Nashville to pursue country music songwriting and keyboardist Jeremy Dean became a graphic designer.

"Nine Days has not been anyone's No. 1 priority in their life," Hampson said.

Members of Fastball, on the other hand, have not taken side jobs.

"We somehow avoided that for almost 10 years," Zuniga said. "I don't think I would ever work another straight job. My résumé is awful. They'd hand me a mop and put me in the stockroom."

But the financial adversities the bands faced did not leave them altogether crippled.

Preparing for a comeback, Fastball toured the country last November and recorded its fifth album, Little White Lies, due out April 14. Zuniga said it is the band's best record "by a country mile" and there are several more two-part harmonies from him and singer Tony Scalzo than in the other four albums.

"This record is more of an exploration of textures and sound," Zuniga said.

PSMA member T.J. Cornwall (senior-economics) said a comeback for '90s bands like Fastball is certainly possible because they were extremely talented and already have that fanbase.

"If they get another hit on the map, then they're right back in it," Cornwall said.

In 2004, Fastball transitioned from Hollywood Records to Rykodisc and released a fourth LP Keep Your Wig On. The president of Rykodisc quit two days after the album's release and Fastball left shortly thereafter because of the lack of album promotion, Zuniga said.

In the five-year interim between records, the longest hiatus yet, Fastball took a step back to hibernate: Scalzo underwent treatment for hepatitis C for about a year, Zuniga started a cabaret rock band The Small Stars and attempted to write a musical, but failed to come up with a plot, he said.

Despite the bands' struggles to retain an audience, Hampson said he feels the music industry has grown significantly more democratic. He noted bands can set up studios in their home and circumvent major labels in promoting themselves.

Nine Days released an EP in 2007 entitled Slow Motion Life (Part One). Hampson said his band's independence from a record label has provided its members with artistic freedom and is conducive to the members' busy schedules.

"There's no pressure anymore," Hampson said. "There's no one making us do anything."

Aside from teaching, Hampson has worked on a solo career and plans for a spring release of his album, which he said is thematically more mature than much of Nine Days' music.

Hampson said Nine Days' synergy remains intact in spite of sporadic recording and touring.

"We don't have to talk for six months," Hampson said. "We can walk into a room, pick up our instruments and that chemistry is there."

Zuniga said time has helped flush out fans who only liked a few of their songs and those who remain are owners of all the records -- fans who stuck around since the beginning.

"The bulk of our audience is diehards," Zuniga said. "That's who I want to play for."

He added he still takes great pleasure in playing his most popular hits, a contrast to many one-to-two-hit wonders that tired of appeasing those with limited knowledge of the band.

"Do you think we've come all this way and we're not gonna play that song?" Zuniga said. "Some bands don't and I don't understand that at all. Only Neil Young can get away with that."

Cornwall said the show should be nostalgic for current college students since both bands formed in 1994. He recalled playing Mario Golf on Nintendo 64 and listening to Fastball's All the Pain Money Can Buy on repeat.

"Everyone around here pretty much grew up with this music, so it's nice to bring it back for the kids," Cornwall said. "It's going to bring back memories."

For Garrett Bogden, Nittany Booking owner and Cloverleaf drummer, Fastball gained prominence around the time he began making his own decisions as a novice music consumer.

"When I hear Fastball, I think of eighth grade and trying to find out about bands on my own without anyone telling me," Bogden said.

PSMA booked '90s bands Eve 6 and Wheatus last semester and both shows received large crowds.

Bogden added this music is still widely appreciated, but he attributed the bands' descent from the top of the charts to the fact that no one can stay on top forever.

"I would blame it on the slight shift in taste of our generation as we got a little bit older," Bogden said.

As a member of a local band, Bogden said he believes in not compromising one's integrity for the sake of ever-changing popular taste.

"You always want to stick to your guns and not change yourself too much," Bogden said. "Do it for the reasons you got into it in the first place."

Looking back on the past 15 years, Zuniga said he can't see himself being anything other than a musician.

"There's no other impetus than to make music on a really honest, pure level," Zuniga said. "I don't have any other motivation."

Cornwall noted PSMA is taking extra precautions to ensure everyone's safety, as this is the first concert held in the HUB since Girl Talk last December.

In the lobby before the show, the crowd damaged the one of the Alumni Hall doors, a newspaper rack and one of the first-floor pillars.

To ensure that doesn't reoccur, the concert organizers hired State College Police officers, as well as auxiliary Penn State police, and sold tickets to the free show earlier in the week rather than strictly at the door.

"We're 100 percent positive that we'll be fine," Cornwall said.